U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission chairman outlines ACT strategy for crypto rules IPO reform and enforcement review

In a speech to the Economic Club of New York, the chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, speaking in his personal capacity and not necessarily for the commission or other commissioners, set out what he called the SEC's ACT strategy. He framed the agenda around three aims: advancing the regulatory framework into the modern era, clarifying jurisdictional lines, and transforming the rulebook by returning it to first principles focused on capital formation, materiality and core investor protection. On digital assets, he said Project Crypto is intended to modernize SEC rules so markets can move on-chain and to give issuers greater certainty on whether a digital asset is a security subject to SEC oversight. He also pointed to a memorandum of understanding with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to align key definitions and coordinate oversight. For public markets, he highlighted proposed registered offering reform and filer status reform, which would, if adopted, give companies more flexibility in accessing capital and recalibrate disclosure requirements based on size and maturity. He also cited the proposal to rescind the prior administration's climate disclosure rule. On enforcement, he said the SEC has ended a "regulation by enforcement" approach, is prioritizing fraud, market manipulation and abuses of trust, and plans a broader review of enforcement processes. He said the broader modernization effort is continuing across the SEC's mandate. As one indicator he cited, initial submissions for firm-commitment initial public offerings rose 70 percent from January through early June compared with the same period in 2024.